


I Forget Where We Were

by Vodnici



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, I still don't know how to tag shit, M/M, Oneshot, piano lesson, thank u eliot for coming up with it, this is officially the first louames fic on ao3 damn y'all sleeping on this ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 23:05:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16355996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vodnici/pseuds/Vodnici
Summary: The place he found himself the most, however, was the piano room. A large part of it was still in relatively good shape, compared to some of the other rooms he had been in, and seeing the mostly intact bookshelves and the strikingly elegant instrument reminded him that at least some fragments of the world were still untouched by unkindness and war.He had also found himself visiting the room when the mellow tones of the piano being played by a certain someone flowed into the main hall. There was only one person James knew could play, and that was Louis.In which James has joined the Ericson kids sometime after episode 2, after the kidnapped have been rescued.





	I Forget Where We Were

**Author's Note:**

> Big thank you to my friends on the Discord server for ideas, suggestions, and proofreading!

   When you’ve spent a long time on your own, you forget what it’s like to be around people. Keeping a conversation going is full of stuttering, mumbling and hesitation, because you’re used to only having your thoughts for company and you never needed to speak any of them aloud. The small mannerisms and the body language that no one even takes into consideration have become foreign to you, and you begin doubting that you’ll ever be able to relearn them when you see everyone else practicing them with ease, giving them no thought.

 

   All of this had become painfully obvious to James in the relatively short span of time he’d spent at Ericson’s. Everyone was, understandably, on edge about his presence, considering his past with the Whisperers and their unfamiliarity with him, but Clementine had put in a good word for him, pointing out that he had helped save AJ’s life, and argued that he deserved a place in their group. Some had protested that letting a stranger in could endanger the whole community, but all of them had – more or less begrudgingly – accepted that James now lived in the school along with everyone else.

 

   And now that the school was his new home, James had tried his best to bond with the others. He had sat with them at mealtimes, answered questions when they were asked, gone on patrol and helped with hunting and foraging, and he’d even participated in one of Louis’ card games once upon the encouragement of Louis himself. But most social gatherings overwhelmed him very easily and left him either silent or grasping for an excuse to leave and be alone. Clementine, Violet and Tennessee seemed to be the ones who best understood James’ need for solitude, and Violet had even offered to show him the bell tower where she sought refuge herself. He had turned her down, but appreciated her want to help nonetheless.

 

   He preferred exploring the school and its surroundings. The idea of knowing every nook and cranny of wherever he found himself brought him comfort, and there were plenty of places to familiarize himself with on the property. He’d managed to create a rather extensive overlook of everything in his mind, and he felt more confident and safe than he did previously.

 

   He had gotten himself a set of favorite locations around the school, including the balcony attached to the headmaster’s office – which had, since the raid, been repaired – for its height and visibility, and the graveyard for its enclosed walls and the one entrance and exit being the gate leading back to the courtyard.

 

   The place he found himself the most, however, was the piano room. A large part of it was still in relatively good shape, compared to some of the other rooms he had been in, and seeing the mostly intact bookshelves and the strikingly elegant instrument reminded him that at least _some_ fragments of the world were still untouched by unkindness and war.

 

   He had also found himself visiting the room when the mellow tones of the piano being played by a certain someone flowed into the main hall. There was only one person James knew could play, and that was Louis.

 

   At first, he had listened from the corner in the hallway leading to the room, too frightened and nervous to impose on what he assumed was Louis’ “alone time”, but eventually he had gathered enough courage to enter the room while he played. He had done so a few times now, sitting in a chair by the window or on the floor, leaning against one of the legs of the piano, listening to the calming notes played by Louis’ deft fingers, and every time he had entered, Louis had shot him a friendly, warm smile and asked, “Back again for more?” with a glimmer in his eyes. James had then smiled back, sat down, and just listened to the music in silence. There had developed a sort of unspoken agreement between them, as James didn’t want to talk, and Louis didn’t expect him to. It was becoming a habit for them to meet and spend a moment together, the air only filled with whatever pleasant melody Louis decided to play that day; no expectations for strained smalltalk or awkward mumbling when James happened to miss or misinterpret body language, only companionable silence.

 

   “You just can’t keep away from me and my musical talents, can you?” Louis said jokingly with a smirk as James entered the room today, his fingers shooting back and forth across the keys and tapping the correct notes in familiar motions. It was the same song he’d played a few days earlier.

 

   James smiled softly, keeping his eyes on the floor, and shrugged. “I like listening to you play. It’s… relaxing.” He took his usual seat by the window, resting his back against the wall and briefly glancing up at Louis’ face. They made eye contact for a split second, and James’ gaze darted away, abashed. He then leaned his head back and closed his eyes, letting the music surround him and peace wash over him.

 

   But suddenly the music faded away. He looked and saw that Louis had stopped playing, and was now simply staring at the keys with an unreadable expression on his face.

 

   “Why did you stop?” James asked and sat up straight.

 

   Louis looked troubled for a moment, his eyes flickering around the room and avoiding James entirely. He then seemed to take a breath. “D’you… maybe wanna learn how to play a song?”

 

   James felt his heart skip a beat, and said nothing at first.

 

   “You don’t have to,” Louis quickly reassured him, “if—if you don’t want to. I just thought it could be fun—“

 

   “Yes.” It was the first time James remembered having interrupted someone. “I want to.”

 

   “Oh! Okay, cool. Very cool. Uh—“ Louis’ voice shook a little, and he cleared his throat. “So, a—are you coming over here or do you want the lesson by carrier pigeon?”

 

   James realized he hadn’t moved from the chair halfway across the room, and felt his face grow hot with embarrassment. He quickly got to his feet, closed the distance between them, and sat down next to Louis on the piano bench, careful not to let their arms or thighs touch. It had been a long time since he’d been so close to another person, and he half-expected the feeling of Louis’ body heat beside him to overwhelm him, but the fact that he was as calm by Louis’ side as he was alone by the window surprised him. The closeness was rather comforting, actually.

 

   “Okay. So,” Louis began, stretching out his arms in front of him to free his wrists of his coat sleeves, and seemingly taking on a ‘professional’ role – as professional a role as Louis could muster, anyway. “I’ll play the first part of a song slowly so you can get a feel for it first, and then I can show you the keys, yeah?”

 

   James nodded, and Louis began playing a song that started off simple and slow with only a few notes to memorize, but it soon picked up and his fingers became a flurry of motion, causing James to quickly lose whatever track he had of the keys. Within a few moments, that section of the song was over, and the reverberating sound of the final note rung out in the room.

 

   Louis turned to James and looked at him expectantly, resting his hands on his thighs. “Well? Catch some of that?”

 

   James was at a loss and simply stared at the row of faded white and black, dirty keys. He tried to make sense of them, yet he found that he had already forgotten the first key that had been hit. Once upon a time, he had played the guitar, but that was little more than a distant memory now and none of what had stuck translated to piano.

 

   “Uh… Try none. Also, that… wasn’t exactly slow.”

 

   “Oh, I know. I just can’t help myself. And… you’re smart, so I thought maybe you’d—you’d catch on, y’know?” He chuckled nervously, then sighed with a drawn-out sound. “All right. Keys. The first one is the A key, right here.” He pointed to a white key that, to James, looked precisely like all the others. Louis pressed down on it, and the piano let out a light tone. “Then there’s F sharp, here, E here, and D right next to it.” He pressed each key in succession as he said their names, but the only one that stood out to James was F sharp, since it was the only black one of the four keys.

 

   “Those are the only ones you need for the first bit. Easy, right?” Louis continued, smiling. “The order goes like this…”

 

   He then played the first ten notes in the melody – _genuinely_ slowly this time – using the four keys he had just shown. James did his best to concentrate and memorize where Louis moved his fingers, suddenly feeling the need to impress him by being able to do the same.

 

   “You try.” Louis removed his hands from the keyboard, leaving the row of ivory and ebony teeth glaring up at James once again.

 

   Hesitantly, he pressed down on a key, and his lips pulled back in a small smile when a recognizable A rung out. Then he moved his finger to the black key two steps to the left, and smiled even wider when F sharp sounded. Two right notes.

 

   But the next key was E, which was in the same neighborhood as A and right next door to D, and no labels or indications could help him tell the identical keys apart. Wondering how anyone could learn to play this instrument, he went out on a limb and pressed a random key. He was disappointed to hear it let out a discordant note that was very obviously not the correct one.

 

   “I don’t understand how you can remember which keys are which. They all look the same.”

 

   “Practice makes better, my impatient fellow. A handful of rocks might also look the same until you start staring at them for two hours a day.”

 

   James scanned his eyes over the keyboard. Some keys were clearly marked more by years of use than others – dirt, smudges, scratches, and even indentations and dips in the wood from countless presses of fingertips – but no matter how much he looked, he wouldn’t know the piano as Louis did. “Well… I still don’t know which one’s the E key, or the D key.” He wet his lips and took a breath. “Guide my hands?”

 

   Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Louis’ gaze flit between James’ face and hands a few times with mild disbelief in his expression. He then swallowed. “S—Sure. If… if you’re okay with it?”

 

   James nodded and smiled softly, but kept his head facing forward to the piano, not making eye contact.

 

   Having been given consent, Louis lifted his hands and they hovered above James’ for a few long, hesitant seconds, visibly trembling, before coming down and gently making contact with James’ skin. James was tense for a moment, unused to the feeling, but relaxed upon sensing how warm, tender and surprisingly soft Louis’ touch was.

 

   “Now,” Louis began, voice so low it was little more than a mumble, “I’m gonna try to ignore how much my heart is pounding right now so I can teach you this song.” He cleared his throat again. “You have to use both hands. Your right hand plays the part I just showed you, while your left hand plays… uh… y’know, something else. Like this.”

 

   Louis moved James’ hands to the respective keys and, with some difficulty, pressed down on his fingers to play. But, because of the awkward position, he ended up tapping several keys next to the intended ones, and even missed some of the keys he _was_ supposed to hit. The resulting cacophony was a jumble of notes that sounded nothing like the original song, and the mess sent James into a laughing fit, which brought Louis along with it.

 

   “Stop laughing!” he yelled, while giggling himself. “This is a lot harder than I thought it would be!”

 

   Still, he made a valiant effort to play the song, but the keys he hit gradually got further and further away from the notes of the melody, and the more ridiculous it sounded, the harder they both laughed. Eventually, to make the chaos of noise end, James flipped his hands around and entwined his fingers with Louis’ and leaned his head on his shoulder, their bodies still shaking with laughter.

 

   “Please stop, before I go deaf,” James chuckled and closed his eyes.

 

   Louis was practically frozen in his seat, but managed to get a few words out. “Aw, come on, it wasn’t _that_ bad.”

 

   “Well, it wasn’t a song, either.”

 

   “Touché. But now we’re holding hands, so now it’s not anything.”

 

   It was as if putting words on it made James realize what he was doing, and he quickly lifted his head and pulled his hands away, tucking them between his knees. “Sorry, I… I don’t think I’m very used to being around people yet.”

 

   “Hey, you can hold my hand all you want.” James turned his head to look at Louis, who was smiling. When their eyes met, however, Louis’ smile dropped and his eyes began flickering around once again. “I mean—just—I didn’t mind it, so if it—if it can help you get used to being around people, you know where to find it.”

 

   James couldn’t help but smile, his gaze not wavering from Louis. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

**Author's Note:**

> The song that Louis teaches James is "Claire de Lune" by Claude Debussy. It doesn't really have any significance, other than being a relatively simple song to play on the piano (the very start of it, anyway).
> 
> The title is taken from the song of the same name by Ben Howard. I just skimmed over song titles in a Spotify playlist and picked one that seemed to fit, so I don't even know what the song is about hjdfd
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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